


Firefly

by leiamileia



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Alternate Universe - Space, Anonymous-centric, Betrayal, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Genocide, I am Number Four Universe, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric, M/M, Nohyuck is platonic I swear, Not Beta Read, Secret Identity, Secrets, Slow Build, Superpowers, first two chapters are intros (and not well written), hyuck is an alien on the run, johnny is his guardian, norenmin and mark are his classmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25535677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiamileia/pseuds/leiamileia
Summary: He has been running for as long as he can remember. He wonders when he'll finally stop.ORLee Donghyuck has been on the run for as long as he can remember. Being hunted by a vicious alien race who had slaughtered his entire planet, he had learnt not to trust anyone easily.Despite his extreme wariness, he’s trying hard to start over in this new place. He'd started to believe that maybe he could have a chance at a normal life, after making some great new friends, no enemies in sight.Or was it that the enemy is right in front of him, and he'd been just too blind to see it?
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 25
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter I

**Author's Note:**

> Um...Hi! This is my first fic in general. Literally my first time writing anything other than essays and the answers in the question papers. I really love reading, but I really can't write for shit. Criticism is (very) welcome.
> 
> The story takes place in the universe of Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore.  
> 
> 
> This chapter is essentially the introduction to the world and how stuff works in case people don't know about the book series.  
> 
> 
> As this is just an intro, although it would be better if you read it, you can skip this if you want to. The summary and definitions will be given in the end notes.  
> 
> 
> Hope you like it (~‾▿‾)~

In the beginning there were nine of them. They left when they were young, almost too young to remember.

Almost.

What he was told was that the ground shook, that the skies were full of light and explosions. They were in that two-week period of the year when both moons hang on opposite sides of the horizon. It was a time of celebration, and the explosions were at first mistaken for fireworks. They were not. It was warm, a soft wind blew in from off the water. He was always told the weather: it was warm. There was a soft wind. He never understood why that mattered.

What he remembers from that day is how his father came back home after a long, stressful day at work. How he had a disappointed look on his face when the explosion had disrupted his disgusting daily routine. How he watched, scared, crouched from the corner of the room, as his father left with annoyance painted across his features to check what all the commotion was about. How he slowly shifted his eyes to his Olgarian mother who was laying on the ground, arms wrapped around herself, right where his father’s feet were few mere seconds ago. How frantic he was when he came back, pure fear and panic radiating off of him. And how, thankfully, just for that day, he didn’t finish what he started.

The Garde had come in that day. They had tried to take him away, and he had resisted. But his mother, his beautiful, caring mother, had sweetly kissed his head, and whispered into his ears, “Go on, Hyuckie. Leave. It’s the only way. Live, for mommy.”

That was the last time he ever saw his parents.

It took a year to get to Earth. He was nine when he arrived. They were to assimilate themselves into the culture before returning to Lorien when it could again sustain life. All of them had to scatter, and go on their own ways. None of them know where the other is. A charm was put on them, making it only possible to kill them in the order of their numbers, as long as they stayed apart. The charm would be broken once they, the last remaining Garde of Lorien came together.

When one of them is found and killed, a circular scar appears on the ankle of the ones still alive. It was an effective warning system, a part of the charm.

\----

His first scar came when he was thirteen. He was growing more and more complacent, even though Johan never forgot to remind him not to. He wasn’t as young as the other members when they first came to Earth. So he didn’t have the option to convince himself that his memories were fake, that he was a normal kid, living a normal life. But up until the scar showed up, he was at least trying to make himself believe that maybe they wouldn’t find him. That maybe, just maybe they would forget to search the Earth, it was one of the smaller life sustaining planets after all.

It happened when he was taking a nap in the afternoon, for the first day of his first summer break since they started living in a small town near the coast in Segamat, Malaysia. He woke up screaming in agony, as he watched the circular scar burn and sear itself into the flesh of his ankle. It was the first sign that the Mogadorians had found them on Earth. The first sign that their location had been compromised, that they were in grave danger, and that the stakes were higher than ever. They moved to China the next day.

The second scar appeared an hour ago.

He had just performed on stage for his mandatory talent show for first year at high school. The music teacher had insisted on him specifically. _You are such a talent, the best pianist this year, it would be such a shame if you don’t,_ she had said. He hated her for bringing attention to him, but at the same time, he really didn’t.

Jian Yi always told him to hold off extra-curricular activities, to keep a low profile so that _they don’t see how special you are_. But music was the only thing that made him feel like home in this alien planet. He couldn't care less about keeping a low profile when music was involved, he had begged Jian Yi to let him take those classes, that he would keep it low and won't attract any attention whatsoever. Yet there he was, walking out of the auditorium with the girl he had just performed with.

He had met Yi Zhuo while attending the same music class.

She was a sweet girl, and he had promised himself that he wouldn’t fall. For himself, for Jian Yi, for Lorien.

But there he was.

In a scene right out of a romance movie, walking side by side as their shoulders and fingers brushed against each other, on a bridge. Both of them were looking at the ground, smiling shyly. She finally turned and looked at him, and the only thing that came to his mind was that she had all the stars in her eyes, and that her smile could have have lit up the sun. She was so, so beautiful.

 _I really want us to feel comfortable as friends, and we have been, for over a year, obviously. Like really, really, really good friends…_ she was rambling.

 _Cute_ he thought, fondly _._

_…but my friends convinced me that you don’t and that you may or may not, maybe sort of…like me? Cause I may or may not like you too…_

He had just stood there smiling and looking at her with pure adoration.

Panic started to swell in her eyes, and she started to shuffle away, before he grabbed her hand and pulled her really close, leaning in with a grin on his face. Both closed their eyes, as their noses touched. _It’s been years, maybe they gave up and left to search another planet,_ he thought hopefully, that maybe he could allow himself to have this small morsel of happiness that the universe oh so pitifully threw at him.

 _Yes, I do maybe sort of like you_ , is the last thing remembers himself saying to her before he felt severe pain shoot up his right ankle.

His right foot started to glow all of a sudden. Something was burning, it was his shoe. He was starting to feel extremely dizzy. People started to look and murmur, some were taking out their phone to record. He knew that that was his cue to leave the area as soon as possible.

She tearfully asked what was going on while he tried to calm her down. He kissed her forehead, wishing her all the happiness in the world and a long, beautiful life. It killed him to leave her. He jumped down the bridge and into the canal, swam until he left the bridge and her far behind, and stayed submerged in the water till the light and tears subsided. He swam non-stop after, only coming up for air once, till he reached the bank near his house and dragged himself to the destination.

When he got home, Jian Yi was doing what he did as usual, surrounded by scattered papers, scanning the police activity in the area and researching news to get a clue to where the Mogadorians were, and where they would head next. He knew without him saying a word though, when their eyes met, he knew that they had to leave.

\----

He stood in front of the main gate of their tenant’s house as they prepared to move. He really liked the house considering its old dilapidated state. Its windows faced the canal and the temple, and he always liked to look out of it during sunrise, it was kind of a habit. And habits get developed when you live in a place longer than you’re supposed to. The house belonged to an old married couple whose children abandoned them. They were really happy to have younger people around, not anymore, he guessed; it sucked for them, they were sweet people but loneliness is a bitch.

Jian Yi walked out of the house carrying last of the luggage, looking as sleepless, tall and handsome as usual. He was sad to be leaving too, he put everything in the backseat of the car and got into the driver’s seat. They drove till they reached the middle of nowhere, on the side of the expressway.

“I’ll miss that place”, he told Jian Yi, “A lot.”

“Me too. You wanna do the burn this time?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Both of them got out of the car and pulled out their wallets and dropped them on the ground. Jian Yi went back to the car and bought out all their passports, birth certificates and the rest of the documents and dumped them too. All the documents related to their identities lay there on the ground, all forged and manufactured. His identity for over a year as Li Jian Hao, a mixed orphaned kid who grew up with his mother in South Korea and came to Suzhou an year ago because of his urban planner brother Jian Yi’s research paper on canal cities for a change of scenery, was being doused by diesel by him himself. Yi lit a match and handed it to him, and he dropped it.

They sat around the fire to warm themselves up.

“So? What next”, he asked the person who was Jian Yi up until a few minutes ago.

“You know what? Since I’m the young and cool Cêpan, I’ll let you choose this time”, he smirked, “…to a certain extent.”

On Lorien there were two types of citizens, those who develop powers, or Legacies as they called it, which can be extremely varied, from telekinesis to teleportation to pyrokinesis. Those with Legacies are called the Garde, and the ones without are dubbed as the Cêpan, or Keepers. Every Garde is assigned a Cêpan at an early age, to help them understand the planet’s history and to develop their powers. One faction ran the planet, while the other defended it.

He pressed for more, “Elaborate _to a certain extent._ ”

“Simply put, you chose the country and I choose the area.”

He looked at him with disbelief, “We’re leaving China?”

“It’s about time, Five. We’ve spent too much time here, and they’ve already found Two. Besides, I’m trying to fulfill the one airplane ride a decade promise I made to you years ago”, he smiled while punching his shoulder lightly.

“I was _a child_ back then”, he laughed lightly, “And I don’t think you’ll have to go through all that trouble anyway.”

They sat there for a few moments, the Cêpan putting a cigarette between his teeth, as comfortable silence enveloped them. It had always been like this for them, they rarely needed words to comfort each other, their presence being more than enough. He offered one to the other, as his hands fished his pocket for a lighter to light it, getting an exasperated sigh and eye-roll in return.

He chuckled at the reaction. “So?”, he finally asked, his hands still busy.

“Can we go to South Korea? Her dad was from there, I think.”

He could practically hear the gears turning his head as he contemplated. “I’m cool with whatever dude. I’m just relieved that you didn’t say Japan. Islands are a bitch to plan emergency escapes from”, he finally answered as he lit his cigarette with the lighter that he just found. Five pretended not to see the subtle fear and panic in the other’s eyes.

He knew his Cêpan had expected him to choose some mixed cultural country like America or Australia, where they wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb and nobody would question where they were from, since he himself always liked to jokingly complain about the neighbouring grandmas who would ask if _they were sure if they were from around there_ and how _they looked a bit ‘foreign’_. And it doesn’t take a genius to know that South Korea was just as dangerous, if not more than Japan. It _was_ a peninsula surrounded by the sea for the most part, the only landmass somewhat connecting it to rest of the world being a shady, closed off, communist regime which could have been harbouring a Mogadorian army base for all that they knew.

He knew his Cêpan was just going along with it because he didn’t want him to feel disappointed. It was the first time he let him choose, after all. He knew they wouldn’t stay there for long, a year at most. But he was okay with that, he just had to go there, for closure, or to feel any sort of connection to his mother in this alien planet, the duration didn’t matter.

\----

They drove for a day or so, before pulling over for food, new phones and creating their new documents.

They were having breakfast in the service area near the expressway, as the Cêpan created their new identities on his laptop while sipping on his tea, which in his opinion, was quote _the best thing that ever happened to Earth_. He asked for another cup of the brew while he searched for a suitable location to relocate to in his analog map at the same time.

“What do you think of the name Lee Donghyuck?”, Five asked.

“Is that what you’ve settled on?”, he peeked through his glasses, as he drew a line from Ulsan port to the outskirts of Gwangju on the map.

He nodded and grinned. “What can I say? Lee’s been kind of a constant.”

“It doesn’t get any more common than a Lee in South Korea. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lee- _ssi_ ”, he smiled.

Donghyuck knew that it wasn’t possible, but he truly hoped that they got to stay there for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lorien: An alien planet that was attacked by Mogadorians.  
> 
> 
> Mogador: A colonist planet that is hunting for the remaining survivors from Lorien.  
> 
> 
> Garde: The citizens of lorien who have powers. Are the defenders of the planet.  
> 
> 
> Legacies: The powers which the Garde possess.  
> 
> 
> Cêpan: The citizens of Lorien who don’t have Legacies. They run the planet and are mentors to the Garde.  
> 
> 
> Nine of the Garde and the Cêpan escaped to Earth after they were attacked by Mogadorians or Mogs. All of them scattered to different locations as soon as they landed. Each of the Garde is numbered randomly, and a charm is placed on them so that the Garde can only be killed in that specific order of number. And if any of the Garde come together and have some kind of contact, the charm would be broken. Everytime a member is killed, a scar is formed on the ankle of the members who are alive.  
> 
> 
> The first two in the order have been killed. And we follow the story of Five who is in China when the second killing happens. They prepare to leave the country as soon as it happens. The guardian gives a free reign to Five to choose a country. Five chooses S. Korea because of some personal connections to the place, ignoring the dangers. His guardian accepts. They make fake documents en route. The guardian asks Five to choose a name for himself. Five chooses the name Lee Donghyuck.


	2. Chapter II: The Infiltrator

**The 4th Mogadorian Base,**

**North Korea**

Over 50 of us were called to the briefing room, the superiors and the tech freaks had been closely observing the activities taking place around the Earth for last 48 hours, since we found and eliminated the second member of the Loric Garde in New Mexico.

The wide screen was playing an extremely grainy footage of presumably a boy and a girl on a bridge. Their arms were wrapped around each other as they moved to get closer to each other, but before they could, the boy’s foot had been set ablaze, and he jumped into the canal after whispering something to the girl. While the girl was somewhat visible, the boy’s view had been obstructed by a streetlight. And to top it off, he was wearing a coat with the hood up, not giving away any identifiable features.

The footage stopped abruptly, as the low, gravelly and sinister voice of the base’s commander echoed through the whole room.

_What you just saw, is a footage shot by a random civilian in Suzhou, China, we have controlled the spread of the video, before it reached to the other bases, who would have scrambled like rats, to take away the glory and shine which should and would be rightfully ours._

I looked around and saw everyone one of the soldiers looking at the commander with complete devotion and undivided attention. I feel sorry for them sometimes, for such poor, expendable fools they were. Thinking that they even have a one in a million chance to prove that they could ever be anything but mere pawns in the evergrowing exapansion of Mogador.

And to whom? To that lowly vatborn commander? All this is temporary. Soon I'll climb through the ranks as soon as this foolish "punishment" of is over. I truly pitied them, for never being able to measure up to me, a person with more importance than all of their pitiful existances combined. I wanted to laugh.

 _You_ , the commander’s voice boomed, as he pointed at me.

I got up, stood up straight and placed my index and middle fingers above my heart, saluting the commander.

_I got a message from your father._

Shit.

Father never sends messages. The act is beneath him. If the General wants something, we’re supposed to anticipate what it is before he even has to ask. It must be something very important, or I must have done something very, very wrong.

I was listing out the possibilities mentally when the commander’s voice interrupted him.

_Our data suggests that the target we’re looking at, is most likely not number Three. But it may be a member of the Garde nonetheless. Your father wants you take this operation under your wing, to find and observe the target. And if it is a member, in the unlikely event of you succeeding to capture and secure them, you may be allowed to rejoin your family at the main base in North America._

The commander looked down at me from above, like he was observing a bug.

 _Don’t you dare be a pathetic bitch and put shame to our beloved General’s name once again, this is your final chance,_ he added seethingly.

Finally.

Finally, after all these years, after being sent to rot in this middle of nowhere base, I’ve got a chance to prove himself to father. Finally, after I succeed, I’ll be acknowledged as the son of the great General of the great Mogadorian army, and not as a spineless coward who was too weak to do what had to be done.

Finally, finally, finally…

\---

Yi Zhuo had had a tough week.

She was returning late from her violin practice, she had overstayed and practiced, trying to take things off her mind.

She still couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening. Ready to have her heart broken, she had finally gathered enough courage to confess to the guy she crushed on for a whole year. And he had he had apparently reciprocated, provided that what happened was real and was not a figment of her imagination. But now he had disappeared, without a trace, in the most confusing way possible. The last time she saw him, he had jumped into one of the canals, after they were just about to kiss and something had started burning on the spot that they were standing on.

But what she found most confusing and weird was that nobody seemed to care about, or even notice his absence. Everyone knew him, but at the same time no one did. She only had chances to spend time with him during the music sessions and she was in a different class than him, but she had assumed he would’ve had friends in his own class. It didn’t make sense that he didn’t, it wasn’t like he was closed off or socially awkward. Yes, he did feel unnecessarily wary at times, but he was still a very charismatic guy, it just didn’t make sense.

“Excuse me?”

Her thoughts were brought to a screeching halt.

She turned around to find the source of the voice.

Standing in the opening of a dark alley, it was a guy who looked around her age. He was pale, sporting a simple black hoodie with jeans. His expression was relaxed, and he had a small smile on his face. She supposed that he looked like any other attractive teenager from around there, but there was something seriously off about him. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

“Yes?”

“I wanted to ask you something. Is that okay with you?”, he said with an awkward accent.

_Oh._

“Is it urgent? I’m really sorry but it’s really late and I need to get going.”

“It is a bit urgent, yeah”, he smiled apologetically. “Sorry, it’ll only take a minute.”

He awkwardly fumbled around his pockets and pulled out his phone, bashfully murmuring another small apology. He pressed play on a video file and handed the device to her.

She froze.

It was a video of her and Jian Hao on the bridge, it seemed that his foot had caught fire out of nowhere, and he had whispered something to her before he jumped off. She remembered vaguely, something about happiness and long life. Why was he showing her this? Where did he get this video from? And most importantly, how did he find her here? He had no way of knowing that she would come here at this time. She hadn't even told her parents that she'd be coming home late. She had a very ominous feeling about all this.

She slowly raised her head to look at the guy standing in front of her. He had been staring at her the whole time, an unreadable expression on his face. It was unsettling, to say the least.

“What about it?”, she was proud of the way her voice didn’t tremble.

He stepped out of the darkness, to step under the streetlight to get closer to her. It was far too close. She could feel his breath on her cheeks.

And then, under the lights, she saw it.

The thing that was subconsciously bothering her this whole time, the thing that was _off_ about him since the moment she first laid eyes on him.

It was his eyes. They were pitch black, devoid of pupils, like two deep bottomless pits that had the darkest of the midnight skies bled into them. His gaze was so strong and intense, terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

No longer did he sport the awkward, naïve smile with the comfortable aura about him. The smile that he wore now had contorted into something far more sinister and inhuman, something far beyond her comprehension. He bought his hands beside her face, cupped her cheeks and looked dead into her eyes as he twirled a stray lock of her hair that had escaped her hairtie.

“I was hoping you could tell me more about this guy friend of yours”, he whispered in her ear softly.

She stepped away, and looked down immediately, “I-I don’t know anything, s-sorry”. She started to walk away. As much as curiosity about Jian Hao was eating her up alive, along with her gut feeling that the guy knew things that she didn't or rather, _shouldn't_ know, anyone could sense that those guys were bad news, and it was a better option for her to walk away.

“Do you, now?”, she could hear the amusement dripping from his voice. It was the kind of amusement that was akin to a sadistic child whenever they get fascinated watching a bug squirm, trying to persevere and escape with its life. Before bringing down their feet to crush it whole.

She sped up her pace, fixed her gaze to the ground and kept walking. _Just keep walking, don’t look back, don’t look ahead, just keep going_. Before something or someone blocked her from ahead, casting a huge shadow that enveloped her whole form, a giant pair of feet, on the ground that she had trained her eyes on.

She slowly shifted her gaze upwards.

She saw who, or more accurately, _what_ was blocking her, and her blood froze in her veins. She wore an expression of a child that was terrified beyond reason. She extended her hand to cover her mouth and to point at the creature looking back at her. _What is that thing?_ As much as she wanted to, the scream just wouldn’t leave her throat. She was stuck frozen on the spot, trembling violently, as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

She heard footsteps from behind her.

“Where were you all? Don’t keep me waiting for this long the next time you idiot”, the guy’s voice cursed at it.

He slowly walked, taking his sweet time, as he appeared in front of her, taking a good look at her horrified face. A smile fought it's way to his face, looking at the terror that had been inflicted on her. He whispered to her, putting a finger under her chin.

“Don’t keep it in, love. Let it out. It’ll be our little secret.”

She started whimpering and crying, little by little, and slowly but steadily, those whimpers turned into high pitched screams of terror, as the _thing_ restrained her.

He breathed in and let out a content sigh. Her screams were like the most melodious piece of music to his ears. He felt almost wistful, he hadn’t enjoyed music since such a long time.

\---

They had covered their tracks well, of course they did, what else did I expect? Damn rats had been running from ever since I can remember, of course they’d be pros at it.

Let’s see how far you get.

\---

I'll go through the expressway, the two lackeys, who were supposed to be some of the best trackers, will go towards South Korea. I'll search the route in China by myself. It's more likely that they're here anyway.

\---

It’s useless, I can’t find them.

\---

Those two finally reported back.

Seriously? South Korea? Those fools…

\---

I recited the excerpt from the Great Book before starting the mission, for luck.

_We do not begrudge the beast for hunting. It is in the beast’s nature to hunt, just as it is in the Mogadorian’s nature to expand. Those that would resist the expansion of the Mogadorian Empire, therefore, stand in opposition to nature itself._

\---

This was the first time I had put on a human school uniform, ever.

He would try to mix in with everyone, if he looks around my age then it would be ridiculous for him not to attend school, considering the number of eyebrows that’d be raised. And seeing that this middle of nowhere town had only one school, made it easy to narrow it down. I’ll just keep it low-key and observe anyone who acts sus, anyone who avoids interactions or tries to stay away from people in general.

I felt pretty good about it. I’ll try to finish up everything before it begins, and join my family in no time.

I started towards the route to the supposed school I’d be attending, but accidentally came across another human who, I presumed, went to the same school, if his uniform was something to go by. I played around with the idea of approaching him, and ultimately decided to do so.

I put my awkward guy act on, and approached him carefully.

“Um..hi? I’m new to this place and I’m having problems getting around a bit. I need to reach the school. Could you help a guy out?”, _even though I have the map of this whole place memorized_.

I tried to size him up. He certainly seemed friendly enough, but something about him made me wary too, and then as his eyes glanced up and down, taking in all of me. I knew he was just as carefully sizing me up—the kind of scrutiny somebody trained or experienced might show—but with the necessary casual regard.

“I’d like to, but I’m just as clueless as you. Maybe we can be clueless and lost together, it’s far better than doing it solo. We’re going to be late either way”, he smiled as he checked his wristwatch.

“Cool with me”, I laughed.

It was going to be a tiring day.


	3. Chapter III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last two chapters were kind of intros, the actual story will start from this chapter. I originally wanted this chapter to be 2k but I really didn't want to delay introducing all the characters so...here's a 4k monstrosity lol (ik for people who write it's not much, but I'm a noob so). Enjoy (~￣³￣)~ !!

Sun had been about to rise when they finally arrived to their destination. 

They had passed through farms and cattle, acres of fields stretching out as the light started to bloom on the horizon, filling the sky with orange and amber. 

Donghyuck hadn’t slept all night, and so hadn’t his so-called ‘guardian’, but he, unlike him, had a solid reason not to, he had a car to drive. 

He told himself repeatedly that he should’ve slept, convincing himself that he had nothing better to do anyway. 

But some nights were like this for him. Nights when it was a pain, when he spent his time awake, yet not fully, while he was up thinking. All his thoughts hazy, lacking clarity. He would be caught in an daze, confronting the uncomfortable aspects of his life.

He would often wonder what it'd be like to actually have friends. Going to the same school for more than a year. Actually having something with a semblance to a normal life. He had tried it out only once before, in Suzhou. And he felt too good to be true. And now that he had had a taste, he was craving more. He would think about this too often than he would admit. But he knew better than to verbalise it to his Cêpan. 

He always felt shallow for thinking about these kinds of things, when the survival of his entire kind rested on the shoulders of him and ~~eight~~ six other literal kids. And some of them weren’t even out of middle school, for god’s sake. It was heavy, to say the least, but it was not like there was something he could do about it. He felt what he felt, repressing feelings do more harm than good anyway. And it’s not like his life would be able to change no matter what he did. The least he could do was to be angsty about it.

They had reached the main city and drove through it, to reach a small town and soon began heading west, out of town.

They drove for a while before turning left onto an unpaved road, then through a dense forest for about half a kilometre. And then they found it, tucked away in overgrown vegetation, a small house.

“The closest house is a kilometre away,” he says, amused himself. Weeds grew throughout the path to the yard, which was littered with potholes which would be a pain to deal with during the rains. He came to a stop and turned the car off.

“Whose car is that?” I ask, nodding to the black car he had just parked behind.

“I think it’s the landlord’s son’s.”

The house stood silhouetted by the trees. In the dark there was an eerie look to it, like whoever last lived in it was scared away, or was driven away, or ran away. They got out of the car. He grabbed his bag from the seat and just stood there holding it, pressing it against his chest, taking in the house in front of him.

“What do you think?”, he asked.

The house was single storied, reminiscent of a dilapidated _hanok_. Most of the white paint had been chipped away. One of the front windows was broken. The roof was covered with black shingles that look warped and brittle. The yard itself is long and shaggy. It’d been a very long time since the grass was last mowed

“Like I expected”, Donghyuck replied.

They entered the house together.

The interiors had obviously been renovated at some point to make it more livable, which made him let go of his breath that he didn’t know he was holding.

In the edge of the living room, facing the backyard with the opened up wooden screen, a seriously handsome guy with kind of long chestnut hair and sharp facial features was pacing back and forth, going through what looked like several documents in his hands.

“Taeyong-ssi?”

The stranger looked up from the documents, somewhat startled by his voice. After seeing them both, he smiled and bowed.

“Hello. You must be Yongho-ssi?”

Donghyuck stopped himself from smiling.

_(You were born and raised in Jeju-do with your father, who passed away last year, so you came to Gwangju for a new start with your brother Lee Yongho, who just finished his graduation from some prestigious hotshot university in the US after leaving Korea because of feeling suffocated, is a writer, and just like any other gyopo, insists that everyone call him Johnny._

_It’s just plain funny how you manage to somehow drag and incorporate ‘Johnny’ into every new name that you pick, and build an whole intricate story around it, while all I, a member of the last surviving Garde, get is a where you were born, where you and who you used live with before your hunky brother saved you,_ he said, laughing.

 _You’re smart, kid. You don’t need me to weave up stories for you_ , he had said, _besides you know how important that name is to me_ , he had stared ahead at the road wistfully, while his fingers tightened around the steering wheel.

He had hummed lightly, _I know, was just teasing_ , as he looked out the window.)

“Yup. That’s me. But please, call me Johnny”, he smiled as he shook the hand that he was offered. “And this is my little brother Donghyuck”, he pointed at him.

He bowed as well.

“I had been waiting here for a while. I’m in a bit of a hurry, so can we discuss the paperwork right away?

“Sure. Donhyuck? Can you set up the computer for me inside while I discuss stuff with Taeyong-ssi?”

“Sure thing.”

\---

There wasn’t much inside, most of the furniture covered in white sheets. Those that weren’t covered were coated with thick layers of dust and dead insects. The screens in the windows looked brittle to the touch. There were two bedrooms, a modest-sized kitchen with tacky linoleum, one bathroom. The living room was large, situated at the side of the main hallway. He walked through and tossed his bag on the bed of the smaller room and worked on setting up the computer. It was fast for him, he had done it several times, it was muscle memory at that point. He was fixing up the wires when he he heard a hesitant knock on the open door. He turned his attention swiftly to his brother, who was leaning against the doorframe. 

“We won’t have the internet here until the morning. You can go to school tomorrow, if you want”, Johnny said.

“If I stay will I have to help you clean this place and finish the setup?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go to school, then,” he replied instantly, flashing his corniest smile.

“Then you better get a good night’s sleep, champ”, Johnny ruffled his hair.

He nodded and started towards his room, abruptly pausing on the way, like just remembered something important. Donghyuck could see the clear hesitation in his posture, frozen on the spot, as he slowly turned his head in his direction.

“And Hyuck?”

“...yeah?”

“You know that it’ll be appearing any day now, right?”, Johnny paused. “I need to know that you’ll be able to handle it.”

“I know”, he muttered softly.

\---

The sound of chirping of the birds filled up his room as the sunlight filtered through the curtains and fell on his face, forcing him to depart from his beloved pillow. He groggily fumbled around half-asleep in his bed, looking for his life source i.e., his phone. Checking the time, he did a hasty double take, and that was enough to jolt him awake. 

It was far past the time he was supposed to wake up.

He guessed he’d always be late to school, no matter the country. The school started an hour later compared to the last place he stayed, but he still found a way to be late. It was like the universe was giving him a sign to give up on education in general, he thought as he got ready. And he’d be complying with the universe _gladly_ if it weren’t for the sake of “fitting in”, as pointed out by his beloved doting Cêpan.

He grabbed whatever he could at that point and left in a hurry. 

And in too much of a hurry, it seemed. After 15 minutes of three lefts and two rights in the area, he was lost.

He knew he should have asked for a lift from Johnny. He would’ve, if he didn’t knew that he was even worse off at waking up than him. 

But _it was_ his first day, he should’ve thought of dropping off his “brother” himself, just to pass the minimal level of being considerate. It was the least he could’ve done, instead of being passed out like a drunkard in the living room. Without doing his dishes. Or laundry. Or cleaning up. 

He sometimes genuinely questioned who the guardian was, between them. 

He looked around for a signboard or something that would indicate exactly where he was.

While he was looking around, out of nowhere, he suddenly felt somebody's steady steps trying to approach him. It didn't feel like a regular passerby's demeanor, he could feel the non-wavering gaze fixated on his back. He did his best to not act alarmed, and stayed still to not alert the other person. He carefully turned, casually, faking the lack of intent, only to find a guy in the same uniform as him. He sighed a breath of relief. Yi Zhuo was right, he did always act unnecessarily wary. He seemed friendly enough, a bit awkward, but he fumbled a bit before asking Donghyuck if he knew the way to the school. Which meant he was lost too. Which could also have meant that there was a chance that he was also new there, the fact enough for the warning bells in his mind to go off. But he willed himself to stop it and relax for once. They introduced themselves, turned out the guy’s name was Na Jaemin, and he was in the same class as him.

He was a good-looking guy. Taller than Donghyuck, black wavy hair parted on the side, he had a bright smile that adorned his already handsome face. Donghyuck didn’t act hostile. He was friendly enough towards him, he just kept a safe distance, just like he did with all his former classmates. He’d try to lose him once they reached their class. 

“So, you just moved here?”, Jaemin asked conversationally, as they made their way.

“Yup. You too?’

“Yeah, from Busan. It’s quite a change”

“Tell me about it, it can’t be any more different from a literal island”, he lied through his teeth.

“Jeju-do?”

He nodded.

“I thought I heard an accent”, he grinned.

“I guess it _is_ kinda showing”, Donghyuck sheepishly laughed, feeling validated about practicing his dialect overnight.

They hurried the rest of the way without saying much, even if Jaemin tried to start a conversation with him, he dodged it expertly, with his years and years of practice. 

They finally reached their class, thankfully not late. He tried to lose Jaemin as soon as they entered the classroom, opting for the isolated seat in the back of the class, near the windows to the hallway. Jaemin tried to find a seat near him, but all of them were already occupied. He had to find a seat on the opposite side, looking kinda regretful for some reason, leaving Donghyuck a bit confused as to _why_.

The teacher came in and they were made to stand up in their places and introduce themselves. Rest of the classes went by in a flash. It was nothing he hadn’t learnt before. Even if he was repeating the first year of high school, these things were taught to him far before that. His kind always found it amusing, how human beings studied and placed so much importance on mere memorization of trivial things. Topics that do not concern the topics of spirituality and the different energies that flow through living beings, centering it and using it to create balance or even the arts of defense. Not him though, he was fairly used to it, but Johnny still gawked when the topic of his studies rose during their conversations.

Soon it was lunch break. Despite himself, he unwillingly sneaked a look towards the general direction of Jaemin’s seat. He was leaning against the wall, talking to a shorter, thin guy with a mop of brown hair. He sighed with relief, _good for him, looks like he won’t approach me anymore._ He had just spread his hand on his desk to rest his head on it. Just about to close his eyes to take a quick nap, when he heard a gentle tapping on his desk. He cursed under his breath. _He has got to be kidding me._

“Wanna come with to the convenience store?”. Jaemin asked with a nonsensical looking (according to him) smile.

Donghyuck squinted at him in disbelief and tried to tone it down a bit to smile as genuinely as he could.

“I’ll pass”, he emphasized every syllable, “Not hungry.” 

“You should come with, though. Take a look around the school and all”, the guy tagging along with Jaemin said, “I doubt you’ve had a proper tour or something, the school’s too poor for that shit.”

“And you are…?”, not being able to keep the annoyance out of his voice, because _tick-tock_ his nap time was just passing by, and nobody messes with ~~Five~~ Lee Donghyuck and his naps.

“Oh”, Jaemin exclaimed, “Donghyuck, this is Renjun.”

“And I care because…?”, he figured he might just as well just drop the 'nice' facade, he'd already poked a hole in it with his last response. And he wasn’t gonna lie, it felt fun to antagonize them. The short guy, more specifically, Jaemin just looked genuinely confused.

“Just shut up and come with us, loser”, Renjun snapped, looking bored.

And _Oh._ Donghyuck liked him. That snapped him out of his sleepiness.

“This guy won’t move until you do, and I’m hungry as hell”, he continued.

He contemplated. He didn’t want to end up being grouped with them, but they seemed like they weren’t planning to let Donghyuck have a say in it either. He suddenly wished he’d remained home and helped Johnny clean and set up. 

He ultimately sighed in defeat, “Okay.”

They sat under a tree in the field to eat the stuff they bought. He’d admit it. They were pretty fun to be around. Jaemin was not as composed and border-line awkward like he initially thought, he had a pretty goofy and ditzy personality when he let go. And with Renjun there was no false advert, you got exactly what you saw. A short, fiery, bored-and-would-kill-you-out-of-boredom-if-it-was-legal kind of guy. At least, that was the first impression that he got. 

They had gone to the store and walked around for a bit. He had got the melon bread for himself, the last one in the store, after battling it out with Renjun. He had been chased around for a bit, but in the end Renjun had to relent and buy the chocolate one instead. He felt pretty proud of the achievement.

“I thought you weren’t hungry”, venom dripping from his voice.

“Guess all the walking around did it for me”, he flashed his sweetest smile.

“Could you both please stop bickering?”, Jaemin said, without any real bite.

They both pretended to think it over for a few seconds, and simultaneously dropped a unified _No._

Jaemin stretched out his arms and plopped his head down on the grass. “Then remind me to bring earphones next time”, he said with a drowsy lilt, gazing into the sky with a smile etched on his face.

_…next time?_

He didn’t know. This was unfamiliar territory. Would he like to be back with them again? As in a routine thing? He blanked out for a second, and the cold reality of it all washed over him. He’d spent the last twenty minutes with them and he'd started to overstep his bounds, forgotten who he was, how he was supposed to behave. What was he thinking? He wasn’t a normal kid that could just spend time time with random people and _have fun_ while he was at it. He was a person who has a heavy burden to carry. A burden so heavy that it’d crush anyone who’d get close to him. The way he’d let his guard down was comical, really. He grew silent, the more he thought more about it.

Rest of the classes went by in a daze. He rushed out without looking back as soon as the last bell rang. He faintly heard Jaemin call out to him from the back. He refused to slow down and was out of the school premises in no time.

After he was out of sight, “Why are you so fixated on that kid anyway? I mean he seemed a bit genuine at first, but it’s a bit clear that he doesn’t want company”, Rejun asked without any real malice, trailing behind him.

Jaemin halted abruptly. Renjun almost ran into him.

He slowly turned around to face Renjun. He had an unreadable expression on his face, looking a bit out of it, eyes glazed over. Renjun didn’t catch it, too busy looking at his phone.

“Why?”, a long pause, “Does it look _weird_ or something.”

“No, not at all. Was curious, that’s all”, he hummed.

\--- 

There was nobody there when he got home. He showered to clear his mind, and plopped down on his bed after it. It was a long day. He’d just pray to the spirit of the Elders that they got the message and would leave him alone the next day. After spending some alone time, he heard the doors unlock. His dear brother was back home. A head of brown hair peeked in from behind his door.

“Everything went well at school?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Tried to avoid this guy, he really wanted to stick together, was his first day too, I guess.”, looking up from his phone.

John scowled. 

“What?”

“You know how I feel about you closing yourself off.”

“Can we _please_ not talk about that right now?”

He put his hands up and made a surrendering gesture, “Okay, okay…any sign of your Legacies?”

“Nope”, he replied in English, popping the p.

The silence that followed was deafening.

“Anyway…I found a grill in the shed and I thought we should have a mini-barbecue and bonfire tonight to _commemorate_ our first day and weekend here”, he paused, making Donghyuck turn towards him with a glint in his eyes. Fucking finally something good happened to him. The week had been a drag.

Johnny continued, “I already got some stuff from the departmental store in the town. So do your part and get your ass to the woods to collect some firewood.”

Donghyuck groaned as he dragged himself out of the bed. It physically hurt to separate himself from it. He knew it was too good to be true that he'd get barbecue for just laying around all day. He grabbed the nearest flashlight and made his way outside the backdoor, grumbling to himself. 

The woods emitted a silent and calm aura. Moonlight filtered through the branches, lighting up his surroundings with a somewhat silver glow. He could feel the remnants of the winter that had almost passed, lingering in the air with its thin and clean aftertaste, slightly overpowered by the promised freshness of the coming spring. 

He almost gave into desire to just sit there and take it all in, breathe it all in. He shook himself awake and reminded himself what he had come there to do, and started to collect the wood lying on the ground. That was what he had come for. 

As he collected them, he couldn’t help but wonder if he could feel the presence of his mother here, if he concentrated enough. 

His mother used to tell him stories of his grandparents when he was a child, how they met each other. Years ago, when travel to earth wasn’t banned. When his adventurous Olgarian grandmother had ventured across the space for the thrill, only to fall in love with a young Earthling. She was so enamoured by that young little thing, she had to bring him back home. And he had no one for him there, no one to stay back for, so he had clung to the first ray of hope that he saw in his life, _her_. 

But he clung to her for too long, even after her death. The death that happened while giving birth to his mother. Even if he didn’t blame her, he was nowhere near the good father he should have been. He kept chasing her shadow, travelling across the galaxy, hoping that all that adventuring would somehow bring him closer to her.

It was ironic how he was doing the same to himself.

He knew how it ended, but he was doing that regardless.

Others might say that he should know better. But he’d rather make mistakes and find closure from them, rather than do nothing and then regret it.

_Snap._

He was startled and dropped one of the sticks accidentally as he shuffled for his flashlight. He lit it up and swung it around.

“Who’s there?”, he called, looking around.

Only the empty woods and a defeaning silence answered back. A raccoon maybe? But where had it gone so quickly? He looked at the shadows, but found no movement.

 _It was only the sound of a twig snapping,_ he reassured himself, _any small animal, or the wind could’ve made it._

He made it out and stepped out of the woods, having a weird feeling of being watched along the way. He started towards his house and spotted a red fox cub darting behind a tree from his peripheral vision. A relieved sigh escaped him.

Only a small animal, just as he thought.

\---

They had the bonfire in their backyard. The fire crackled, casting a golden light on Johnny’s skin as he got the grill ready, as Donghyuck played around with the long shadows that it projected. He tried making some shadow animals, miserably failing at it, and decided to help Johnny instead. 

He stood beside him, preparing the food to set on the grill.

“Hyuck, do you remember the kids that you used to play around with? During our year in the spacecraft?”

“You know I don’t”, Donhyuck's mood dropped, _he isn't going to let it go isn't it? He knows_ I _can’t_.

“I’m not talking about their faces and all, I _know_ that you can’t help that”, he paused, “I’m talking about the times you spent with them.”

There was a pause.

“You know that when I was crying on the ship, like the angsty teenager I was, wondering why I survived instead of my father. Wondering if I’d ever measure up to him as a Cêpan.”, he continued, “Wondering if all the time spent with them was just a waste, because all those memories did in the end was cause pain. You came up to me and held my hand with both of your small ones, and told me that the hurt will go away, that the time spent with my family will always be precious, no matter what, just like the time that you’d spend with the brand new friends that you made that day.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

He remembered. The people who had saved him from the self-created dark pit that he almost fully descended into when he was a mere child. The people who taught him about friendship, their faces and voices obscured because of the charm, but the effect that they had on him never forgotten. 

“And I know that it feels like your burdens would crush others, but you’d never know if you make decisions on their behalf. And I’ve also felt the same as you for a long time, but it all changed when I saw you in Suzhou with that girl. I’d never seen you so carefree and happy since the day we landed on Earth”, he sighed, “Just…give them a chance. I think having friends would be good for you.”

Although he wasn’t fully convinced, he couldn’t help but feel grateful to Johnny for always being there for him, protecting him, caring for him, ever since he was a child. He'd never be able to pay back for how much he had sacrificed to ensure their survival. The least he could do was to give his words some thought.

That night he went to bed with a lot on his mind.

\---

Thinking about what Johnny had said over the weekend, Donghyuck returned to school on Monday. He was hesitant to approach them, taking in account how he had treated them the day the last time they met. He stepped into the classroom after much reluctance, making a beeline to his seat in the back, deciding to approach and apologize to them during the break. But as fate would have it, he didn’t have to wait that long.

As soon as he turned around to get seated he was greeted with the sight of Jaemin coming his way. He dumped his bag on the seat beside him, and stood straight in front of him.

“I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable”, he bowed.

Donghyuck blinked twice, wide eyed.

“N-no. Don't apologize, you d-didn’t”, he sputtered.

“You don’t have to lie for my sake”, he smiled, “I realised I just made it weir-”

Donghyuck cut him off, “Don’t worry about it, I was just sorting out some stuff on my own. None of it was your fault, really.”

“Really?”

"Yeah", he smiled, putting his hands on Jaemin's, giving it a light squeeze, "really."

He felt good about clearing it up. However, he noticed that Jaemin’s hand felt too cold when he held it, almost unnaturally so, but before he could ask him about it, "So can we hang out today, after school?", his voice filled with brightness.

His eyes softened, "Sure."

The first class started, ten minutes in, he. Donghyuck had started to zone out, when a hushed conversation on the other side of the glass shook him out of it. 

“Damn. I think the classes have started.”

“No shit Sherlock.”

“Aren’t you gonna say I told you so?”

“I told you so. There. Happy?”

He heard some more bickering before the two voices stopped, and the supposed owners of those voices appeared at the door of their classroom as they asked the teacher for permission to be let in. They were reprimanded a bit by the teacher as soon as they stepped in, something about being late on their first day. Both of them were asked to stand in front of the class and introduce themselves afterwards. 

The taller one looked somewhat built, his hair a messy but lustrous black, half a eye smile adorning his eyes from his semi-successful attempt at containing his laughter. The other one had a similar look. Built, black-haired, pale. He had wide eyes that resembled a doe’s, with the high cheekbones that framed his face.

Both of them looked fairly normal...but something about them didn’t sit well with Donghyuck. There was a change in the energy in the room once they entered, for reasons that he couldn’t explain. He couldn't tell if it was because of them or if their presence had simply triggered something that was already present. Whatever it was, he knew that it was a sign for him to be more alert.

"I'm Lee Jeno. Nice to meet you all", the guy with the eye smile said, bowing.

On cue, the other continued politely, "Hello. I am Lee Mark, hope we get along well."

Donghyuck swore he heard a bunch of girls swoon.

"We have two other transfer students too that joined us before you. Hope you all get acquainted and get along", the teacher addressed them, pointing towards Donghyuck and Jaemin.

Donghyuck made eye contact with both of them, nodded once in acknowledgement and quickly teared away his gaze from them, not wanting to dwell much on them, only to find Jaemin looking at him intently, instead of the new guys, subtle confusion etched across his features.

"Now please find your seats and please try not to be late next time", she gestured at them to take their seats.

The classes went on for the rest of the day, during the break, Jaemin and him went out to the fields by themselves after seeing Renjun deep in conversation with the new guys, Jaemin seemed a bit out of it, but Donghyuck decided to give him space. When school finally ended, Jaemin called out to ask Renjun if he wanted to hang out with both of them. He said yes and asked if they were okay with Jeno and Mark tagging along.

"I don't see any problem with that", Jaemin told him, sounding restrained.

"Thanks. They're like adorable lost puppies. They have no idea about literally anything", he chuckled.

"I hope you felt the same way about me yesterday, Huang", Donghyuck batted his lashes without an ounce of shame.

He was returned with an eye-roll, "Shut up Satan."

The five of them walked down the stairs together. Renjun and Jaemin leading the march, as the other three trailed behind them.

"So, you both already knew each other?", Donghyuck asked Mark.

"No", Mark shook his head, looking at Jeno, "what made you think so?"

"No, just...I guess because you both entered the class together today?", he finished lamely.

“We just randomly met on the street while coming here. We got lost.”, Jeno grinned, looking at the floor.

Jaemin turned around, laughing, “Me and Donghyuck met the same way.”

“I personally blame it on the lack of sign boards”, Jaemin added absent-mindedly.

After a long pause, “It’s really easy to get lost in this town I guess”, Mark said, eyes trained on Donghyuck.

Jeno hummed in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My writing's really off so I'm not sure if I was able to convey it properly, but I hope you liked it. Like everything you picture in your head is so perfect, but as soon as you put it on paper it seems really questionable? But I didn't want to waste more time on striving for the perfection that was just not there yet.
> 
> Anyway, happy guess the imposter to y'all (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧


	4. Chapter IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this is the last infodump on the lore and world building. I'm sorry hehe.  
> 
> 
> EDIT: I added a bit in the end after the "Come here you brat." part. To make the next chapter flow better. Expect an actual update soon!

"Johnny?", Donghyuck took his name hesitantly, "I wanted to ask something…", he said, as he rolled around to prop himself up on his elbows.

They were just going through their weekly combat session a few minutes ago. Donghyuck was flipped over by his ankles in an attempt to kick Johnny, ending up with him on his back on the ground, before both of them decided that they should take a breather. 

Donghyuck signalled Johnny towards him to pass him the bottle. His throat was unreasonably achy these days, due to the changing seasons, he guessed. It often slipped his mind to take care of his own health. Banes of a superior immune system, he guessed

Johnny eyed him curiously and nodded, signalling him to continue.

He took the first sip as he closed eyes shut, wiping the remaining sweat off of himself with a towel, "First week of school, I felt something shift when some students entered the class.”, he opened his eyes, Johnny continued to sport the same expression, “ I was wondering if that could mean something…"

"Don't be cryptic, say what's on your mind.", Johnny didn't look surprised, "Why you wait this long to say something anyway?

It had been two weeks since he had started school, so yeah, it had been long due. Especially with the downright disastrous way he had been handling the matter over there.

"I wasn't sure what triggered it, if it was because of them, or something else. I wasn't sure so I didn't want to say anything", he sucked in his breath, "and what I wanted to know, if there was even one in a million chance that it was because of...you know? them?"

Johnny didn't look entirely convinced, furrowing his eyebrows, he said, "It can be your powers too, you know?"

They used to say that the Garde start experiencing anomalies and weird phenomenons when their powers are at the starting point of development. It could have been the case. He wondered if it could have been that his subconscious was really just trying to deflect. Because his powers would make his situation too real? Because a buried part of him wanted the make believe to go on longer? His mind had started reeling, trying to make sense of his sudden realisations as Johnny rubbed his back, sensing his slight distress.

“And as for them , the Mogadorians can’t infiltrate, they can only ambush”, Johnny clicked his tongue, “You know that they’d stick out too much for an infiltration. They’d be pretty hard to miss, trust me.”

He agreed. Those 7-8 ft tall bodies with pasty, paper white skin, sharp teeth and pitch black eyes devoid of pupils and irises, that he'd been taught to run on the first sight of since he was a kid. They would be hard to miss. But...

“You know I wasn't talking about the abominations, hyung.”

Johnny looked at Donghyuck, lips parted and eyes wide, like he’d spouted a pair of horns, “So you’re trying to imply…what? The trueborns?”

After sucking their own planet dry of resources and life, after the destruction of their own planet, eventually, Mogadorian women became unable to conceive children, and when they did, they were most likely to die during childbirth. They were rare, which was why it was seen as an “achievement” when one had a natural born child, or trueborns, as they called themselves. They were the only faction of the Mogadorian population that remotely resembled the humans and the Loric population.

One of the corrupted Elders from Lorien, supposed to be on death row for abusing the powers of the Loric energy source, was secretly shown mercy and banished instead by the highest ranking Elder due to unknown reasons. But instead of staying banished and wandering aimlessly in space, he betrayed his trust and approached Mogador, offering a solution to the Mogadorian higher ups, with a promise that he'd raise the Mogadorian up from a dying race to the superior conquerors. 

On the condition that he’d reign as the supreme leader of the planet of Mogador. 

He and his scientists successfully found a way to create fully grown, unnatural looking Mogadorians in vats with default characteristics of a bloodthirsty soldier. They made up the maximum part of their population, and were the ones doing all the dirty work for the trueborns.

“You know that there’s no chance of that, Fi…Hyuck”, he paused to compose himself, “There are barely any of them left, you know that. And they’re too sheltered. Only the royal family and the military leaders would be trueborns at this point. Most of them didn’t even bother to land on our planet while their vatborns destroyed it, they just hovered in the sky to just enjoy the spectacle. There’s just no way one of them would even bother to land here…”, he stopped abruptly.

_Unless_ …a thought in the darkest corner of Johnny's mind seemed to creep up to him. _No_.

He pulled himself together before continuing, "Much less be out on field, and a child of your age at that, they're too protected and sheltered for that."

Donghyuck listened intently, realising that Johnny was right. There was little to no chances of that happening, Mogadorians would never send their precious seeds to actually get hurt, they held themselves in too high of a regard to do that. There was a tiny part of him that was nagging him at the back of him mind, but he decided to pay it no heed.

He'd been a dick to two of his classmates for no reason, and raising suspicion on himself while doing so, "Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, you know me. I’m too paranoid.”, he said with a relieved sigh.

He put his head on Johnny's shoulder, looping his arms into his and groaned, as Johnny started to stand up in the same position, picking him up in the process. "Training's not over bud", Johnny quipped.

"I'll take care of you when I get my pow…", he said, sighing, as his eyes came in direct contact with his unintentionally flexed bicep. Johnny cocked up his eyebrows, "You were saying?" 

"...nothing", he huffed, dejected.

Johnny smirked, "That's what I thought."

Now Donghyuck's powers were a different matter altogether.

For normal Loric kids, their powers usually started to develop between the ages of fifteen.

When he had turned sixteen, both of them didn’t panic much. They had expected as such, his process not being of the normal typical pace, with him not being of pure Loric lineage. But with Two’s death, the situation was getting dire, and they were getting impatient and restless at the same time.

But powers or no powers, one should always know how to defend oneself, especially when there is a bloodthirsty race of killers hunting you, chasing you across galaxies, just to sink their claws and teeth into you.

At least that was what he told himself during training, and frankly, that was the only thing that kept him going through these combat sessions, because anyone would reconsider after getting drop-kicked by a six-feet(?) tall giant for the nth time in a single match. He definitely was, as he sighed, taking his stance.

\---

"Hey! Hyuck, wait up!"

Donghyuck turned around to see Mark lightly jogging in his direction to join him. He had, for once, woke up early for school and was on his way after parking his bicycle.

"Hyuck?", he smirked.

Mark reddened up, "Uhh...sorry? Kinda slipped out."

"Nah. It's okay. You can call me that if you want. No worries", he smiled, a tad cockily.

"Hyuck…", he worded out the newfound nickname slowly, delicately, as if testing how it felt on his tongue. Donghyuck suppressed a giggle, finding his actions endearing.

"Yes Mark?", his voice exuding mirth.

He seemed to be careful while choosing his words, hesitant even, "Did we do anything to put you off or something? Jeno and I?", anyone could detect the blatant nervousness and silent guilt that his voice dripped.

He widened his eyes and parted his lips. Lightly scrunching up his eyebrows and tilting his head slightly, he painted a perfect portrait of seemingly genuine confusion.

"What? Why would you think that way?"

_Oh he knew exactly why._

The way he'd been ignoring those two like a plague, only making small talk when absolutely necessary. Spending all the time bickering with Renjun and making Jaemin laugh, not giving them a time of the day, barely sparing them a glance. They would have to be completely and totally blind to any and all kinds of social cues to not to notice that something was wrong. He did partially feel bad for it though, now that he had cleared up everything with his brother. 

He didn't regret it in any way, shape or form, but he did admit that his irrational fear had gotten the best of him, and may have made him seem more suspicious, if anything. He supposed that he'd at least try to make up for all that starting then.

"Just... nothing", he sighed, "but you can just tell me if something we did made you uncomfortable, Jeno was also worried if he did something wrong."

He had been hyper aware of Jeno's attempts to “make conversations” with him. How he stared holes into his back when, one day, he actively ignored him in favour of Renjun. He had even caught him whispering to Mark one day. _Do you think we did something? He was fine the first day…_ And the day after that, when Renjun voiced the same concerns, that was the day he realised he needed to talk to Johnny and resolve this issue if he wanted to not to raise any more eyebrows. 

"Nothing. Really, I promise", he tried to fill the words with as much earnestness as he could. 

"I'm glad then", Mark's voice seemed lighter, the guilt fizzing out, he could feel the relief washing over his voice.

They walked the rest of the way enveloped in a comfortable silence.

\---

All five of them laid on the soft grass, the same spot on the field that they were coming to since the last two weeks to spend their short breaks, after their regular daily goofing around sessions in the convenience store.

"This town is beyond fucking boring", Jeno groaned.

"You won't be saying that in a few weeks when the semester fully kicks in, bud."

Ah yes. Their sworn enemy. The Korean education system.

“That reminds me, we _should_ go somewhere together before the Saturday classes start whooping our asses. I don't think we'll get another chance for a long time”, Renjun suggested, still sipping on the empty juice box.

“That sounds like a good idea”, Jaemin chimed in.

Donghyuck hummed in disagreement.

“I don’t know. Let’s just chill, school has just started. I don’t think it’ll be _that_ bad”, 

“Dude? Have we been living in the same country? You don’t think it’ll be _that_ bad?”, Renjun shot up to his side, gawking at him, “I thought talking like a _gyopo_ was Mark’s job, this Jeju boi…”

 _For the thousandth time, I was just born there, I’m Korean_ , you could faintly hear Mark’s voice in the background.

“People around me were chill as fuck, I was never pressured to study, and despite that I still scored better than you so…”, he cut Renjun off with his whining before he could retort, “All I know is that there's no music club, it sucks here.”

He had a flashback to last week, when he went to the teacher in-charge, expressing his concern for the lack of a music club, and being turned away in the middle of his expressive monologue, being told off to concentrate on his studies, and that he could participate in competitions out of his own volition, if he wanted it that much. He also swore that he heard their suspiciously loud grumbling about how instruments were a waste of school funds as he closed the doors behind him.

“You play?”, he heard Mark’s voice from behind him, meek and surprisingly hopeful.

Donghyuck smiled at Renjun, as he turned around to face Mark, sitting on the ground, cross legged, “Yeah. Piano. And a lil bit of singing.”

“That’s neat. I play guitar too. We should totally jam sometime”, his eyes sparkled. He could tell from his gaze and the enthusiasm lacing his voice that his love for music was genuine. Donghyuck’s eyes softened. At the same time, he could feel Jeno's eyes curiously shifting between both of them.

“We could”, he replied softly, voice slightly strained, but then remembered the slew of people that surrounded them, “But alas, Renjun-ssi thinks that we’ll get so busy that we won’t be able to go around the town together. Jamming seems to be absolutely out of the question, my lad”, he said dramatically.

"I was talking about going out on a short trip outside the town, you clown, not walking around",

He responded with a "...Oh", before he dissolved into a light coughing fit. He touched his throat once, it felt warm for some reason. His body in general was feeling warm. It just wasn't getting better, even after drinking up all of that “healing tea” that Johnny had made.

And true, Donghyuck did feel kinda dumb after that. It hadn't even crossed his mind. It felt too far fetched by his standards, the concept of leaving a town without Johnny's presence.

Jaemin laughed, clapping his hands, “So? Where to?”

“Please...I’m dying to get out of here”, Jeno grumbled.

All of them threw around some ideas, someone suggested trekking, someone wanted to go camping. But it was clear where the majority was leaning towards, and Donghyuck didn’t like it one bit.

Beach was out of the question. It wasn't that he hated them, on the contrary, he loved the...insert dramatic descriptions of the beach and all that jazz. But it also meant shorts, and flip-flops. And he didn't care if he was called old fashioned, Victorian even, for the values that he held close to his heart. He simply didn’t want to flash his ankles to relative strangers, how utterly scandalous would that be?

But in all seriousness, he didn't have the patience, desire, nor the intellect to explain the perfectly circle shaped scars situated perfectly below his ankle, without child protective services showing up knocking at his door. And even if they miraculously weren’t suspicious about the scars, or even if he had grown comfortable with all of the people sitting there surrounding him, the scar was the giveaway to his heritage, his hidden existence. 

He definitely didn’t trust them enough not to snitch if threatened. Not that he had any intention for the situation to come to that, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.

"Don't think my brother will let me go anyway, so enjoy y'all.", he drawled with a lazy lilt in his voice.

He looked at the faces in front of him, all of them looking a bit regretful. He felt a tinge of guilt before he felt a firm grip on his shoulder, "That's fucking amazing Donghyuck, thank you. So much", he heard Renjun say with a solemn tone.

"Come here you brat."

The bell rang before he could get to him though. A shame, really.

They all stood up, Donghyuck being the last one to get up, feeling the slightest bit of dizziness rush over him. Someone offered him a hand to help him up, he looked up, squinting due the sun glare, only to see that it belonged to Jeno. He had a smile plastered on, but it didn't reach his eyes. His gaze was resigned, it was almost like he had just simply accepted the fact that Donghyuck would ignore him no matter what, waiting for him to brush him off like always. He was just doing it out of general courtesy and habit.

That was why it was so satisfying for Donghyuck seeing Jeno’s eyes widen comically when he actually took it.

He staggered, Mark came up to help from the other side to help him balance, hands on his waist.

"Woah...Are you okay?"

Haechan stood up slowly, finally slipping his hands out from Jeno’s after what seemed like an eternity. Jeno slowly blinked twice before saying, “You’re so hot.”

Donghyuck’s head snapped to his direction, face contorted with disbelief and amusement, “Come again?”, miserably failing to hold back the weakest laugh.

Reddened, “I-I meant your hand is really warm...I…too warm...uh...hot."

Huh.

Okay.

Anyways.

He did feel cold, and there was some time left till the break was over. They made their way to class and he went straight for his bag. He opened it, shielding it from everyone's vision. Warm clothes, hand held GPS, a small knife, flashlight and a rain jacket, all ready for an unforseen/sudden emergency. He took out his hoodie and put it on.

His hands gradually started shaking, it was at a point that he himself could feel their warmth. He touched his throat, lightly grazing it with his fingers, it was even hotter. Looking at the state of his hand, he guessed that his neck must look worse, redder. Not having any way to check, he zipped up his hoodie all the way to the top, to at least try to conceal it. He took one shaky breath, two. Three. Four.

It was not normal. He had gotten sick on Earth before, but it had never gone past slight discomfort or a normal cold and a bearable headache. He tried to concentrate on the teacher's voice before. He couldn't. She was still talking, but he didn't hear a word of what she was saying. His vision started to blur slowly, he had lost perception of time. Another deep breath. In and out. In and out. 

He could see from his peripheral vision a slight glow from below his chin. He zipped his chain up higher. His first thoughts were if something was happening to the other members. But the charm didn't work that way, it only signified death. If something would've happened, he would've felt it in his scars. 

And only then did it dawn on him. 

His first Legacy must be forming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wondering if y'all could tell me if the world building feels too exposition-y? I did it because I felt that Lorien Legacies is not that...idk famous (???) in general? So I felt like I had to explain stuff. Lol pls tell me...I'll edit it up if it feels like that.


	5. Chapter V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been able to English recently. Ignore the disjointed sentences and bad grammar. I'll just go back to my default excuse of English is my second language.

He struggled with his hazy vision as he reached for his bag, pulling out his phone from it, not even bothering to try to conceal it from the teacher. He typed in a message with effort, asking for Johnny to come. He was sure most of the words were misspelt but he was too dizzy to type anything else. He clenched his fists and looked at the clock. Fifty minutes left. He closed his eyes and tried to distract himself from the suffocation. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Time was moving too slow, yet too fast, giving him a whiplash. He raised his head up to look around once. And instantly his eyes were met with Jeno's inquisitive, unfaltering ones.

_Shit. How long had he been looking?_

He teared his gaze away from his and tried to act normal, as normal as he could. He could feel his eyes on him for minutes after, unwavering, before he finally looked away, making Donghyuck’s shoulders unconsciously slump in relief.

Classes were finally over after a few minutes, gathering all of his stuff, he picked up his bag and left running before anyone could approach him.

As soon as he stepped out of the classroom though, he heard someone call out his name.

It was Jeno.

"You okay?", he inquired, looking worried.

Avoiding eye contact, he parted his lips slightly to utter a quick _yeah, I am_. But something was off as the words left his lips. He quickly realised that he himself didn't hear a word of what he just said.

Jeno kept looking at him inquisitively, “Donghyuck?”

He was trying to reply, he really was, and he could feel himself talking too, but the words just weren’t coming out. After being embarrassingly rooted to his spot for ten whole seconds, not being able to say anything, do anything, he wordlessly ran out of the hallway, silently hoping that his actions could be passed off as simple urgency. He took a flight of stairs to the lower floor and ran along its hallway until its dead end. He opened the nearest door that he could find, found himself in a dark store room which he tried to lock himself in with best of his ability. He stopped all movement and leaned his head against the door. He shook his head against it, sweaty, while fumbling his bag for his phone, realising with a shock that it wasn't there.

He remembered putting it in his bag's side pocket. Did he drop it on his way there? He groaned silently, he had to go back to his class to look for it.

He turned around with his back against the door and slid down slowly, dropping on the floor unceremoniously.

Panting, he racked his brain for all the lessons that Johnny had drilled into him.

_Think. Think. Think._

It wasn't Elecomun or Pyron, he would've fried or burnt something by now if that were the case. It wasn't an elemental legacy, he was sure of that. He was just heating up without any external effects.

_Without any external effect?_

He remembered the slight glow from his peripheral vision in the class, he unzipped his hoodie slowly with his trembling hands. And he didn't need a mirror to tell that his throat was, in fact, glowing.

Touching it, taking in a shaky breath, he tested his voice with uncertainty. 

He was speaking, he could feel the voice leaving his cords but never reaching his own ears. He repeated the words again and again. _What's happening. What the fuck it happening to me._ Tears were running down his face, thoughts blurry. 

Was it getting redirected somewhere else? Was it being unconsciously manipulated by him? Sonora? Sensior?

He didn't know. He didn't fucking know.

Each breath that he took felt like a sucker punch to his guts. It felt like the walls around him were closing in, trying to trap himself in there forever. Suffocation was getting to him, he sobbed louder, still nothing. A sense of dread started setting in, would he never be able to talk again? Sing again? 

He screamed in dizzy desperation.

Then he heard it, the faintest echo of his voice, ricocheting back at him. Nearly negligible in existence, a faint sound no human being's ears could possibly pick up.

He cried out louder, messier. The same faint echo found its way back to him, though a bit louder, subduedly mocking him. He could see that the glow in his throat was getting dimmer.

He ran his hands through his hair, grabbing onto the strands, his sanity as well, as he screamed into the void one last time.

It was like he was hearing his voice through a semi-permeable medium, trying to break through the last of it’s barriers. It sounded light, floaty, as if the voice trying to hear while submerged underwater, trying to coax him towards it. It was coming from the opposite direction as him, originating from a source outside his body, from something...not him, slowly rushing towards him before he felt it physically hit him, an aborted scream leaving his throat, ending up as a deafening static ringing in his ears.

He gasped as he covered ears with his trembling hands.

He heard careful knocking against the door after a minute.

"Is someone in there?

Steadying his breathing, using the wall as a support, he stood up, legs shaky. He tried unlocking the door, but his hands were quivering too much for it. He groaned in frustration.

"Get away from the door", he heard a muffled voice from the other side. He threw his body weight completely onto the wall, falling down, barely missing the kicked open door by an inch.

"Oh my god...Donghyuck?", 

He looked up to find Jeno, who crouched down, throwing his bag to the side. He cupped his tear stained cheek with one hand and carded through his hair gently with the other.

"Look at me”, Donghyuck squirmed in his hands, whining, “No. Donghyuck, look at me”, he finally looked at him, holding up his fingers to count, “Breathe in and breathe out, 1, 2, 3. Yeah like that”, trying to follow his lead, his breath started to slowly steady itself.

After a while, sitting by his side, when he finally felt like he could talk again without the roof crashing down on him and further proceeding to suffocate him under its rubbles, all that came out of his lips was a, "Thanks…", in a light huff.

Apparently Jeno had been looking all over for him, all thanks to the phone that accidentally dropped from his bag during the application of his dazed avoidance tactics, which included an embarrassing half conscious sprint towards the exact opposite direction of the exit, making Jeno worry. 

"I used to have panic attacks too, when I was younger. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone", he smiled at him.

Whatever narrative suited him, he guessed.

They sat side by side as only the sound of their steady breathing accompanied them.

Both of them were alone in the room, after school hours, without actual permission. They'd get in loads of trouble if any staff walked in on them, and he didn't want to give Johnny a headache to deal with in his second week. But he couldn't will himself to move, he didn't want to. Jeno's fingers were still running his fingers through his hair, trying to awkwardly comfort him from his "panic attack". It was all on Donghyuck though, going from not talking at all to this, Jeno had acquired full rights to be awkward. 

But awkward or not, it was still comforting.

"We should leave", Jeno whispered, so as not to startle Donghyuck, or out of fear of getting caught, Donghyuck couldn't tell.

"Don't want to", he whispered back, snuggling deeper into his shoulders, voice raspy.

"We have to, though", he said, slightly raised. He could hear the smile in his voice.

He let out a sigh, shaking his head, "Mmkay"

Jeno helped him up, holding his bag for him. Donghyuck tried to take it from him when he stood up, Jeno didn't let him. He eventually gave up and made their way out.

"I'm sorry for before",

He hummed, "I'm sure you had your reasons", he paused, "no one is obligated to be nice to everyone anyway."

"Hey! I wasn't not nice to you", he laughed.

He cocked his head slightly, "Yeah, you just treated me like I didn't exist."

Donghyuck made a face, "Don't verbalise it that way! It makes me feel worse."

"Take it as my cheaper version of revenge, then", he saw it then, his signature eye smile, for the first time, directed at him.

\---

Both of them crossed the field to get to Donghyuck's bicycle, only to find someone waiting for them.

Mark was leaning against the pillar of the bicycle shed, going through his phone. One hand buried in his hair, he looked fine, but there was a hint of distress that was tinting his actions, his eyes cautiously flitting in all directions. It was as if a switch was turned on as soon as he saw both of them approaching.

He waved at them with a bright smile, enthusiasm replacing his gestures. They waved back as they approached him."Your cycle was still here, so I figured you hadn't left yet, stayed back to convince you about the beach trip. Was going to try to tempt you to change your mind by ransoming my guitar and all", he grinned, fingers hooked on his bag straps, tugging it down. His expression dimmed a bit after noticing Donghyuck's disheveled state. "Are you okay, though?"

"Yeah, I'm okay.", he tried brushing it off, "And, I would, believe me, I just really doubt my brother would let me."

"Even after I mentioned the guitar?", _was he pouting? Elders help him._

He sighed somewhat fondly, what was this? he had just started talking to this guy, he had no business getting soft over him, "Well talk about a deal breaker”, he lied, the other’s eyes shone brightly, making him hesitate, "I'm not promising anything though."

Why had lying always been the most easiest thing in the world for him, and why was this random boy making it hard for him for the first time ever in his life? This early into meeting him?

He remembered the _only_ time that he hesitated while lying to a human in the past, telling Yi Zhuo about his reasoning for not making friends and staying isolated, six months into their friendship. His attempts at stepping around half truths, weaving them together with blatant lies. 

And that was much deeper and much later into their friendship, especially compared to _this_.

"But you really don't look okay. I don't think you'll be able to cycle your way home", his eyes flashing with concern, "you need a ride? We can stop by somewhere too, if you want to get yourself checked."

He felt warm from the concern, but he really didn't. He was feeling better now, his weaker condition was still far better than the decent condition of most people surrounding them. 

Mark was still looking at him earnestly when his eyes suddenly flitted to something behind Donghyuck, as he pointed at it, squinting.

“Who's that?”

He saw a tall figure jogging towards them, a human might not have been able to tell who it was from that far. But he instantly knew who it was as soon as he turned his gaze in their direction.

Recognition flashed across Johnny's features, as he made his way towards them.

"...it’s my brother"

He lightly jogged his way, nearing closer until he was finally in front of them, "Hey kid, got your message", he made a show of just noticing the other people in their vicinity, "Oh hello", he bowed to them. 

Jeno started, "Hello! we're Donghyuck's...uh..."

"We're his friends", Mark completed his sentence, voice soft, "hello!", seamlessly transitioning to formal speech. Both did a ninety degree bow to greet him.

They shared pleasantries, which mostly involved asking them about how their studies were going, he relished the typical faux formality that jumped out of them when confronted with friends’ family, all the bowing and soft lipped yeses. 

"We'll get going then, I just came to pick up Donghyuck."

They bowed and were getting ready to leave, Donghyuck going inside the shed to fetch his bicycle when he heard Mark utter something that he should've been wary about from the start.

"Uh Johnny-ssi? Can you let Donghyuck join us on a beach trip next weekend?"

_Fuck. John no. Shut him down. Now._

It was foolish of him to forget about it, it _was_ what they were talking about just before he arrived. He should've rushed and shooed Johnny away with him, not letting the chance to ask arise.

"Where to?", he asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

 _Why does it matter?_ he internally groaned.

"Are you by chance going to the one in Hampyeong?"

Donghyuck blinked slowly in disbelief.

 _What?_ This was clearly beyond him now.

"Uh…", clearly not expecting to be entertained for more than a second in the slightest, "we haven't exactly decided yet? But maybe, yeah."

"I can give you a ride then, I have work there this weekend."

_What. The. Actual. Fuck._

Was he out of his mind? Was he trying to make their lives harder on purpose? What exactly was he trying to accomplish with that?

His thoughts were cut off with a "Oh that would be great! Thank you so much!", from Mark, who was bowing again. He stood up straight, looked dead into his eyes, smirking. Not cockily though, he just looked silly, like he couldn't believe himself and was low-key proud.

All of them parted ways eventually, he could see him pretending to be relaxed, but he could also see the tense lines in his shoulders, always there, never leaving. They got into the car, none of them saying a word until the ignition started.

"Everything fine?", he asked, throwing his phone gently onto the younger's lap.

The screen was on, showing his messages on the screen JOHN LGCIES CMEE.

"What? You making fun of my spelling abilities now?", he mused.

"No genius. Is the language on your phone still English?"

...no way out of _that_.

"...yeah, I forgot to change it, sorry", he mumbled.

"It's okay. Just be careful about these things, you'd look mad sus if someone actually saw it."

He patiently waited as Donghyuck got to changing it immediately.

"So?"

He told him about what happened at school. His voice leaving, glowing throat, heating up and hyperventilating. He listened through all of it with a crease on his forehead as he drove through.

"All of it seems unfamiliarly familiar", he shifted his eyes onto his little brother warmly, "don't worry, we'll figure it out together. Even if it means pulling all nighters with extra readings", he pinched his cheeks.

"Ow", he still looked like a grumpy little puppy to him. Johnny laughed.

"What's got you all ticked off, oh my younger brethren?", 

"Why'd you make up the trip?"

"I didn't make up anything? I actually have some work there."

Ever since that last talk with Donghyuck after the practice, a nagging seed of doubt had been planted inside him, gripping him, tying him up with it's vines, refusing to let go. He needed to confirm something there, for his own reassurance if nothing. Even if he was pretty sure that nothing was wrong, he had to accept the fact that he _could_ be, and put Donghyuck first so that his ignorant bliss didn’t become the cause of their downfall. But Donghyuck didn't need to know that, not yet, at least.

"You could've refused them though, what if they see my scars on the beach?"

"It gave me an excuse to not to leave you alone, so why not? And you're good at making stuff up anyway. You'll be fine"

Donghyuck raised his eyebrows and scoffed.

"Okay then, don't get mad if something happens."

"If something happens it would be 'cause you aren't careful enough."

"It'll be because you haven't taught me enough."

Johnny sighed, "This can go on for a long time, are you sure you wanna down this route."

"Oh _hyung_...bring it on", he smirked, "I can do this all day."

They bickered the whole way back like the siblings they never truly were

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nohyuck is platonic (even I had to convince myself while writing that scene). I swear this is a Markhyuck fic, but Mark was just introduced a chapter ago and Jeno just happened to get a pass before him, everyone (me), just be patient. (And the maw reference was not intentional it was purely coincidental, I only noticed after posting it hhhhh)


	6. Chapter VI

“Finally?”, Donghyuck squeaked.

That mysterious, intricately carved wooden has had Donghyuck on his toes for nearly his entire life. Johnny had always remained eerily secretive about it for some reason, all the time, never slipping up about it. He didn't have the vaguest of the idea about what was inside it, all owing to Johnny and his overt secretiveness. 

All he knew about it was that it was impossible to open up, a conclusion that had been reached because of his uncountable unsuccessful attempts in doing so. It was shut locked, without any apparent slot for any kind of key.

"To be honest I'm more curious about how it's opened rather than what's inside it", he giggled like a giddy child on Christmas, after a pause, raising an eyebrow, he asked, "so what's in it?"

Johnny said, ruffling his hair, "Your inheritance, my Garde."

"Well that was vague", he huffed with a bit lip, "so how do we open it?"

Johnny picked up the chest and placed it in Donghyuck's palms, "this chest can only be opened after your first Legacy presents itself", he placed his own palm on the opposite side of the chest, "it feels warm, doesn't it?", he smiled, Donghyuck nodded eagerly, "the chest can only be opened when we are together", he said, as the chest glowed lilac.

"It can't be opened any other way, by any amount of physical force exerted on it", he explained before smirking, "Unless I die, then you can open it on your own as many times as you want."

Donghyuck really hated it when Johnny joked about things like that. He usually used to tone it down a lot for Donghyuck, but he had always had a really dark sense of humour. "Stop kidding about shit like that, Johnny", he rolled his eyes, "let's just open it."

"One of these days I'm going to wash your mouth with earthen holy water, young man", he sighed as he interlocked his fingers on the chest with his, making the chest glow brighter.

A clean clicking sound resounded throughout the room. Donghyuck held his breath as he finally opened the chest.

The chest had different types of stones inside it, the prettiest ones of all shades and sizes, a small book tucked in the corner, along with a small piece of paper. Donghyuck looked on to them, eager to touch, wonderstruck by their beauty.

Johnny picked up two of the stones and locked the chest up. Donghyuck let out an indignant noise of protest as Johnny shushed him, telling him that he simply wasn't ready for the others yet.

He placed one of the stones on the counter and gave the other to Donghyuck. Before Donghyuck touched it, it was a clear, smooth, oblong stone with a cloudy centre. But once he did, the stone began to glow a soft lilac. 

He looked at Johnny, confused, about to ask what it meant, but once again, like earlier that day, when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

Johnny looked on at him, trying and failing to speak, gaze deep set on the stone, immersed and carefully observing, before he rushed to that one briefcase that he always carried everywhere. He took out a notebook, filled with scribbles and unseen glyphs, only to speak after a minute or two, finally settling his eyes into his, "It's Vorsos. Manipulation and psychosis using voice."

Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows, about to try to say more before Johnny motioned him to stop. He picked up the stone that he had set aside.

"If you'll talk now, you should be able to be in my head", he signalled to the stone in his hand, "As your Cêpan I'm naturally resistant to your powers, this stone brings down my barriers, your powers are supposed to have an automatic affinity towards people you have the deepest connection with when it isn't controlled."

 _So basically I can get into heads when I speak?_ he still couldn't hear anything.

"Yes", he looked at him with awe, "You're in my head right now."

 _Really?,_ he blinked _, So I can manipulate you now?,_ he was delighted, thoughts running wild in his head. After a thought came to him, he pulled a straight face and said sternly, mustering all his sincerity, _John, buy me a ps5._

Nothing happened.

"You're still a long way from manipulating, bud. You still have to learn how to turn it on and off at will, to control whose head you get into, and much more before you're actually manipulating people", he laughed.

All he was hearing was homework. He hated homework.

 _This is lame,_ he huffed, _Anyways, how do I turn it off? I hate not being able to hear the sound of my beautiful voice._

"Your first training exercise", he quirked up his lips, "figure it out yourself."

He let out a groan and collapsed on the kitchen counter, before a stray thought passed his mind.

_John? Whose mind was I speaking into before you dropped your guards then?_

\---

The question remained unanswered. Johnny had read up and told him that he should have heard his own voice in his mind, as that was what happened when there was no one eligible around, according to his father's note. He suggested that he might have tuned it out in his frenzy. 

The question was eventually forgotten, and days passed before the dreaded weekend came along. In the meantime he had been practicing, trying to get better at honing his powers. He had gotten better at turning it off at will with the help of meditation, while he still needed the stone to turn it on. He had also been practicing on controlling whose head he got into with the small animals in his backyard, the stray cats and red foxes. It was easier, since they couldn't really complain about a human voice camping in their heads. 

He struggled in actually making them perform a certain action, but he was confident in manipulating simple thoughts.

He still hadn't tried anything on humans, he couldn't bring himself to for some reason. It felt invasive? And he didn't know how to manage if he fucked up something, the human mind and thoughts were definitely far more complex than his favourite fox cub's. And then there was Johnny.

He couldn't forget last week when he was being plain ridiculous.

( _Hyung are you hearing yourself? You're being plain ridiculous at this point._

_Well I'm not going to willingly lower my guards for my mind to be messed with._

_Hyung it's just wrong._

_Why? Why can't you give a lil nudge to your teacher to give you extra marks. You sure seem to need them._

_John. I got fucking ninety-six out of a hundred, why do you need more._

_Well in Lorien we weren't allowed to pass until we got perfect marks, so suck it up_ )

He didn't do it, but it was still ridiculous.

Both of them got ready as they packed for their short trip. Johnny was going to pick all of them up on the way and drop them at the beach and go his way for the rest of the day. They were having breakfast, not wanting to get hungry on the way.

"We've got to pick up four people, right?", he sighed, running his hand through his hair as he set the water to boil.

"Actually, no. Only three."

Jaemin had called in the night before, explaining that it would be easier for them if he came to their house directly instead of them picking him up at his. Something about his address being in the complete opposite direction to the way they had to go. Donghyuck tried to come up with alternatives since his house was far and on the outskirts too, before finally giving in and giving him the address and directions.

"Huh", Johnny muttered.

"What?"

"His house is directly on our way, though."

Mouth still full of cereal, busy relishing his "childish choices" in food, he asked offhandedly, "How do _you_ know?", and then he stopped abruptly as it dawned on him and his eyes widened in realisation. He sighed, "You snooped around, didn't you?"

Of course he would've.

He shrugged as he leaned on the counter, "Yep. All of them look clean, by the way. You're welcome", he said, with a toothy smile, without an ounce of shame, sipping on the omija tea that he had hoarded on his first day of shopping in Korea, "except that Lee kid, some of his documents were missing, but that might be just because he was born outside the country", he added as an afterthought.

"Mark?", he guessed hesitantly as he remembered the few times that he'd mentioned about being born in Canada. 

Johnny nodded, smirk plastered on his face, "and the other guy who was a Hwagyo, he's clean but his legal status and stuff got confirmed like, really recently."

This was so wrong. He wished he could tell Johnny that too, that he was invasive to do so, but it'd be quite hypocritical of him, since he would've done the same thing just a week prior, considering his space of mind at the time.

He sighed, might as well embrace the grind, “you didn't check his international records then?"

"So that we can have the CSIS on our asses too?", he guffawed, before his features softened, eclipsed by Donghyuck's earnestness, "Don't worry Hyuck, besides, his Korean docs were legit."

He slumped his shoulders and took his word for it, nodding, continuing stuffing his face with his now soggy checks choco.

They heard a harsh knocking against their main door. Their guest had finally arrived, it seemed. Johnny told him to get the door while he gathered all the stuff and met them outside.

"Sorry, I just stood here for a while not knowing what to do when the doorbell didn't work", Jaemin laughed, embarrassed, as they helped Johnny load the car. Donghyuck smiled at him and told him not to worry as Johnny signalled that they were ready to go.

They started on the road, but Jaemin and Donghyuck were soon alone in the car, enveloped in an uncomfortable silence for the first time since they met. It was because of Johnny stopping at an isolated convenience store to get some supplies, _and_ a lost-in-his-own-world Donghyuck with his wordless fiddling of the loose thread on his shirt, along with a puzzled Jaemin looking at his direction, after getting no response to his attempts at starting a conversation. 

Donghyuck was still thinking back to the conversation on the kitchen counter, thinking about all the possible reasons that he could've lied. He wanted to conclude that it may have been a personal reason, but the other part reminded himself to be vigilant and not let it slide. Nevertheless he didn't want to relive the same blunder that came with visibly treating people that you're suspicious of differently, so he slapped a smile on and turned to Jaemin, "Sorry, you were saying?"

\---

They picked up Jeno from the main town and Renjun from his community on the way. Mark was the last one left to pick up, mainly because he lived on the edge of the town, five blocks before the town ended and long stretches of acres of fields started. Donghyuck tapped his fingers on his phone impatiently after messaging him to come down. He peeked outside his window to look at him as he came out of the apartment door, walking slowly and carefully towards the car. 

It was the first time he had seen Mark outside his school uniform. 

All of them in their little group were varying levels of attractive, but it was a general consensus that Jeno and Jaemin were _it._ Mark, while attractive, was an extreme stickler for rules, always following the dress code, shirt buttoned, always fully tucked, with his round glasses that occasionally sat on the tip of his nose when he couldn't see what was written on the board. Not that it took away from his attractiveness in the slightest (the girls in the class ate that shit up), but he was just used to that brand of Mark.

He'd never seen Mark like this though, never expected to. Loose short sleeved white v-neck t-shirt with dark lightly distressed denims, messy black hair falling into his eyes like he'd just got out of the shower. A guitar case was flung over his shoulders and a bag in his hand. He tried to convince himself that his heart didn't just skip a beat. But alas, it was all in vain. He often forgot that he was good at lying to everyone but himself.

Donghyuck got out of the car to move to the front seat, meeting Mark's gaze over the hood as he did. He greeted him without words, a simple smile etched on his face, with a small nod of his perfect little face, it was difficult not to smile back. 

Donghyuck hesitantly broke the gaze first and took his place next to Johnny. Mark squeezed into the back seat with Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun.

Johnny leaned back, saying,"...Mark right? It's going to be a long ride, you sure you don't want to put the guitar in the trunk?"

He smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"As long as you four are comfortable."

"Don't worry, Yongho-ssi we're fine", Jaemin chimed in.

"Are so many people in this small of a car even allowed?"

"No?"

"We put Renjun and the guitar in the trunk as soon as a traffic police comes on sight", Donghyuck supplied.

"Shut up! Why me?"

"I don't think that's necessary though, Renjun can duck down and we can put the guitar case over him to cover him up", Mark grinned.

"Yeah that's better!"

Renjun gasped, "You take that back, you!"

\---

They got there earlier than expected, Donghyuck could taste the salt on his tongue before he saw the sea. The beat down sign pointed to the direction of Anak beach, signifying their arrival.

Johnny left them on the beach with his car. Saying that his work was walking distance from there and that he'd be back by the evening.

All four of them were collectively staring at Donghyuck when he said that he won't be joining them in the water.

"I can't sorry, I’m a bit scared of the sea", he smiled regretfully. "but I'm here though", he said, as he flopped down to the beach chair, "getting my Vitamin D.”

“...Donghyuck, why didn't you say something? We could've just chosen a different place”, Jaemin said, ”we wouldn’t have suggested a beach in the first place, then."

So he did what he always did best, he lied. About how he didn't want to burden them, not wanting to be the reason they didn't get to go on their dream trip, inserting Johnny, how he wasn't even going to tell him about the trip. How he wanted Donghyuck to have some fun but was regretful that he couldn't do much about it due to him being busy at his job.

"...but Johnny didn't know about it since we lived apart for most of our lives. And he's been trying so hard for me, I didn't have the heart to say no to him when he found out", he pulled out the broken family card in the end.

All of them looked at him with softness in their eyes, "It's okay, we understand", Renjun said, rubbing his shoulders.

They all went to the sea soon after, all of them except Mark.

"What's up dude?", Donghyuck asked with a confused tone.

Mark grinned bashfully.

He told him that he felt guilty about being the reason he had to come here, and that he'd compensate by not going to swim and playing guitar for him for the rest of the day. It put a smile on his face, this little gesture of his. Made him feel a bit guilty about the lies too, but it was only fair, he _did_ drag him here.

"...and besides, I actually hurt my leg yesterday, I came because I really didn't want to cancel."

"And why was that?", he raised his eyebrows.

He thought for a bit, knitting his brows, "Didn't wanna miss out on spending time with you?"

He didn't expect that answer. He was expecting a generic statement involving all of five of them.

"And why is that?", he tried to act nonchalant, crossing his legs, when he was anything but.

"I don't know...", he stretched out the last syllable, "I guess it's because I can't pin you down...but at the same time you seem really familiar? I really like talking to you for some reason", he had felt the same way, these last few days, even before that, when he was actively ignoring him, if he was being honest to himself. But he wouldn't have ever dared word it out loud, he was too prideful for that. He admired him for his unapologetic candor. "Besides that, I've already done the getting to know you thing with the others, you're kinda the only one left to check off."

His lips curled up, "Check off? What am I? A mission in your quest list?"

Mark just smiled to that. He muttered a small _something like that_ , under his breath before his fingers started to strum the guitar strings. 

Donghyuck closed his eyes as the tune of "time spent walking through memories" filled the air. He had found this song while they were driving from Ulsan port, when he had been researching, looking through the music and pop culture. He hummed along with the broken lyrics that he knew, putting a lazy smile on Mark's lips. Encouraged, he started to raise his voice little by little, Mark got visibly more excited as he did. He was positively beaming by the time he sang the last part after the chorus with his full chest.

_I open the door of longing memories_

_Over and over the corners of my eyes get red_

_What now?_

_I open the door of longing memories_

_Over and over my heart is torn apart_

_What now?_

His light, honey like, voice melded perfectly with the soft harmonisation by Mark, all of it dancing along and interweaving with the prettily strummed instrumental from the guitar. They could even hear the light hoots, all the way from the shore, from all of their friends.

He opened his eyes, only to see Mark looking at him like his face hung the stars.

"Hyuck, your voice is gold", but Donghyuck thought, looking at him, that it was his voice and eyes filled with flecks of gold and wonder.

  
  


The whole day went by like a fleeting daydream, something that he shouldn't have, something forbidden. He hadn't felt like this since he was nine. All of a sudden he was nine and just a child in love with friendship itself, constant butterflies in his stomach with a sense of impending doom that this wasn't going to last. 

Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun played in the water for the longest time. He'd loved beaches too, once upon a time, his mother and Johnny's older sister used to take him to the outer coastal city of Encenard, every two Loric months, for him to play in the sun. He still remembered how happy and melancholically her hazel eyes used to trace his small figure, as he ran along the beach, all by himself. She used to whisper to him, _father won't find you here, Hyuckie_ , uttering the secret name that she called him when his father, or anyone else for that matter, wasn't around, _why don't you talk to the neighbor's son, he looks friendly,_ but he couldn't. His fear of his father had been simply too great. 

Now that he had friends, and a beach, he didn't have his mother, it felt like a disrespect to her somehow now that his heart was aching to join them. All these messy contradictory feelings, but one look to the boy on his right, and everything seemed fine. She'd want him to be happy, won't she?

Mark never left his side, strumming his guitar, breaking into the randomest of songs at any given time and making Donghyuck laugh at his goofiness. Not to exclude making his heart beat faster with random passing comments and gestures like _I wrote some of Yiruma's pieces for guitar to impress you, wanna listen?_

It didn't feel like outside looking in, it felt like being a part of something.

It had never happened this fast, but he knew what was happening nonetheless, and he didn't like it one bit.

Jeno jogged towards them, crashing down besides Mark, shaking off the water in his hair, directing most of it towards Mark. Mark laughed,"Dude stop", extending his arm, trying to get his guitar as far as he could from the mess. 

"Renjun's asking for you, now gimme the guitar, I wanna play", Mark's eyebrows shot upward.

"You play? You never told me", Jeno's lips quirked up.

"You never asked", he cocked his eyebrows up, before his eyes dissolved into an eyesmile, "No I'm just playing with you, I only know like, two songs", he paused, "now shoo, Renjun's been going on about how you promised that you'd show him how to do a butterfly."

Mark sighed, handing his guitar to Jeno and folding his denims up after removing his shoes. As he folded it upwards, he could see the flimsy bandage that was wrapped around his ankles, and the purple bruising peeking beneath it. He was shocked that he could even walk normally. 

"You're hurt?", he heard Jeno say, "Why didn't you tell me. I'll go over and tell Renjun." 

He waved him off, "No, it's okay I'll just sit near the shore and direct him or something. I promised after all."

Donghyuck had a feeling that he was hurting, he wanted to tell him not to go, but he'd step on a Lego than actually say it. As Mark finally started to stand up to leave, Donghyuck tugged at the hem of his t-shirt.

Mark looked alarmed, and quickly stepped forward, effectively removing his hand from his t-shirt. Donghyuck was confused at the sudden reaction but chose to ignore it.

"You promised me too right? That you'd play for me the whole day?", he grumbled, "Jeno will tell Renjun when he gets back to them."

Mark looked at him tenderly before situating himself back by Jeno's side.

"Okay then", he hummed softly, then a bit louder, "Jeno Lee let's hear what you've got."

\---

Day had turned to evening, and evening to night, and by then Mark and Donghyuck were totally alone with each other, sprawled around the bonfire that they'd built. Others had gone to get dinner for all of them from the local food stalls. As they played the final songs for the day, nearing the end Mark once again started to apologize for dragging him there. He sure did like apologizing, Donghyuck thought, maybe they weren't lying about the Canadians.

"No its worse because I wasn't even really there to ask you for the trip?"

Donghyuck looked at him with a puzzled expression, waiting for him to elaborate further.

"I was there to ask you if your phone was lost." 

"Why would've my phone been lost?"

Mark sightly furrowed his eyebrows, "I was seeing things, but I thought I saw Jeno slipping your phone out of your bag when both of you were talking in the hallway", Donghyuck's breath hitched, he felt his surroundings slowly exacerbate. But he pulled himself together and smiled. "I waited for you to come out to ask you about it, but you literally had it in your hands", he laughed, "I didn't want to look like a fool standing there so I asked about the beach, I had been meaning to anyway."

"Aww Markie? You would've snitched for me?", he asked, keeping his tone amused, barely keeping it together inside.

"No, but would've convinced him to put it back on your desk next morning or something. I don't snitch", he said playfully. 

Trying to shove his mild panic to the back, he tried to distract himself, and he found his eyes following his fingers, crossed and near his lips, like he was swearing in on a secret.

His lips. Soft. Pretty. A small mole in its corner too.

Why were they sitting so close again?

Something rustled behind them, he snapped out of his trance as their heads turned in its direction. And a certain look of surprise crossed across Mark's face when he noticed how close they'd gotten. He moved to put as much distance as he could between them.

"You're back?", Mark asked.

Jaemin nodded, slightly spaced out, with a blank smile.

"Brought eomuk tang for you both before it got cold, Jeno and Renjun still gobbling up theirs in the stall", as he set up the dish on top of a distressed newspaper lying around there.

Mark thanked Jaemin and started devouring it as soon as he was done setting it up.

Donghyuck smiled and ignored the churning in his stomach in favour of quietly eating up.

\---

He looked at the moon as he got reminded of the skies in Lorien, two moons always hovering above them, the skies filled with stars, visibly shining, wherever you looked from. Unlike Earth, where you had to go to certain places for your eyes to feast upon all the glory that they held. Turned out this was one of those places, he observed as he walked with Jaemin along the shore, eyes fixed far above him.

Jaemin had asked him for a walk after they finished their food. Mark had also wanted to come with. Donghyuck was going to tell him to stay, before Jaemin beat him to it, telling him to take it easy on his feet. 

“I heard what Mark told you”, he started, “I’m sure that he told you that I tried to steal your phone or something.” Donghyuck was going to correct him, tell him that Mark didn’t mention him at all, before he was cut off, “I wasn’t going to say anything when you had nothing missing but I saw him going through your bag on his first day when we left for the store on our break, he must’ve seen me catch him doing that shit. He’s trying to reverse the roles and shift the blame onto me for some reason an...”

“Jaemin...he didn't even mention you."

That shut him up. He blinked twice.

"What? No you have to believe me I didn't do anything. I saw Mark going through your stuff, he must've seen me...", his voice was getting high pitched and panicky.

Donghyuck listened to them as he rambled on. He waited for him to be done, and when he was, an eerie silence had settled in.

"Why are you so sure that he'd say that without any coercion from your side?", he whispered.

"Huh?"

"He was the one going through my stuff right, won't he want to keep it quiet? Why would he bring this up randomly when nothing of mine was even missing?", he asked this time, each question more loudly than the last. Not denying on purpose that there was no talk about anyone going through anything in the first place. 

_Won't he just want to stay silent about it, rather than shifting the blame on you, unprovoked? Wouldn't he be taking a risk? Knowing that you could reveal the "truth" about him, if he crossed you? I've theoretically known you better, trust you better. So I'd believe you, right? Why would he willing to risk it knowing that? Either he'd be very dumb to do so, if he did it, which he didn't in the first place, or you're paranoid about something he has against you, related to me, that you're hiding from me or you're straight up lying to me. And if so, this is the second lie in a row today, and I'm genuinely scared about what else you might be hiding from me, Jaemin-ah._

_Am I overreacting?_

_No._

But he shouldn't have shown it outwardly, he realized belatedly. He should've kept it in, pretended to be okay, and bided his time to get to the root of it all before raising his voice.

Donghyuck was scared, he was hyper aware of everything surrounding them as each ticking second passed by, him contemplating hard about what to do next. Jaemin was just frozen speechless, looking at him. He looked like a stretched rubber band, on the verge of snapping. And Donghyuck understood that he had no other choice.

He looked like he wanted to say something, anything, to take back the last few minutes between them. So that was exactly what he did.

He touched the stone in his pocket.

This was the first time Donghyuck was trying it on a human, he just prayed to Elders that it works, he had nothing else to bet on.

 _Jaemin,_ he stared at him in horror, putting his hand on his head, trying to make sense of things. Donghyuck perilously fought to stay in his head until Jaemin finally stopped resisting. Jaemin's eyes glowed a soft lilac, staring into dead space.

_What did you hear when you bought food over for Mark and I?_

"I saw Jaemin slipping your phone out of your bag."

Donghyuck deduced that he might've misheard them due to paranoia of getting caught. He was praying that he was reading into this right, or else he'd be subjecting the first person in the country who decided to extend their warm embrace towards him, to _this_. And if he did expose someone innocent to his powers in its raw, untrained form, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

But he has to stop being so swayed by his emotions if he was to survive. He had to be calm and calculated if he wanted to make it. He didn't have the simple luxury of hope and prayers.

_No you didn't. You heard us talking about his guitar, you asked me to walk with you after because you wanted fresh air._

Donghyuck getting out his head felt like vacuum leaving his lungs and blood resuming to flow through his veins. He had expected it to be harder for him to manipulate life forms with complex thoughts. But he didn't expect this. He had to train and get better at it. 

His eyes had stopped glowing, but he was still looking ahead blankly. Donghyuck looked away, he couldn't bear the sight of him.

"Donghyuck you fine? What happened?", he heard Jaemin's quivering voice. He turned his face in his direction, a tight smile plastered on. He stumbled two steps towards him, stumbling, his legs seeming as weak as a newborn faun's.

"Nothing", he caught his slumping form in his arms, easing down to his knees. "You look a bit dizzy, Jaemin-ah", he pointed out calmly, without a trace of emotion, as he carded his finger through his hair.

"Donghyuck…", he heard a weak whimper leaving his blueing lips before he went limp in his arms. He stopped his hands and withdrew his hands as he cleared his throat, pulling out his phone. 

"M-mark? Can you come here quickly? I don't know something h-happened to Jaemin", he made his voice quiver for a better measure.

He pursed his lips after he ended the call and looked at the face of the person in his arms. Mark would be arriving any second now, he should look into Mark too to be safe, in case Jaemin wasn't lying and he messed with his mind for nothing. And Jeno too, in case Mark wasn't seeing things. 

He chucked to himself humorlessly, he never thought that there'd be a time when Renjun would be the safest bet to be with, considering they're always at each others' necks. He was glad that he caught himself early on, before he got strongly attached to any of them. He absentmindedly held his form closer to himself, humming to himself.

But then he knew that he was lying to himself as he saw Mark, Jeno and Renjun jogging towards them, the light from the moon bouncing off of their concerned faces. Mark looked at him delicately, like he wanted to hold him once he spotted him, but settled with a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, as Jeno carried Jaemin away.

 _Not attached my ass_.

This was the reason he should've kept distance, refrained from being a part of a group, the reason why he passed off flawlessly as that friendly loner in the corner that everyone knows but no one knows anything about in his previous lives as Jian Hao, Zhang Wei, Adam, and many others.

He felt cold inside now, but he knew that all the guilt would come crashing down once his head hit the pillow at night. When there'd be nothing but his thoughts accompanying him, loud, keeping him awake, rendering him sleepless with tears. But it felt nice to not feel anything for once, for now. To just feel empty, no feelings weighing you down. No matter how temporary this feeling may be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a lil short different character POV, I hope you look forward to it!!


	7. The Infiltrator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little something...it's not a chapter (a chapterlet 🤠 k I'll see myself out now) but i felt bad for not posting for this long :'D

**After first day of school**

I hear whispers sometimes, they surround me, all around, they extend their slippery grasp over me and trap me still. A sweet, melodious voice, that I could never forget, even if I tried. It's always the same. The same feeling of a cold gaze running over me. A serene cacophony, a jumble of words and half sentences. _Why? Why did you lie?_ _I trusted you_ , sounds of weeping, screaming and pain, _Just wait for me._

 _I'll_ _kill you with my bare hands._

I woke up in a cold sweat, struggling to breathe.

I rubbed my eyes, and fixed my blank gaze to the ceiling, trying to steady my breathing and quickened pulse.

That was unexpected. Hadn't had these dreams for a while now.

Father had said that it'll go away eventually, after his  _ procedure _ , and I, like a naive child, believed that, as it was the case for each and every little word that had escaped his greyed, battle-scarred lips . He'd lied about shortening my punishment after a single successful mission, but here I am, on the fourth mission, chasing phantoms. 

I was grateful until yesterday, that I'd finally be able to prove myself, seemingly easily in this small town, where virtually little to no one lived in. Only to find not one, but three people, equally suspicious, in my class. And I hadn't even started looking into other classes. Frustration bubbled inside me. Why was I even grateful, I was supposed to be forgiven two missions back. Was what I did that horrible? No trueborn of my status has ever been subjected to this level of humiliation and hardwork. Being called names like little bitch and traitor by those lowly vatborns, doing jobs that they should be doing, running around the planet alone, doing odd jobs in the name of Mogador.

I curled up at my side, while lying down.

I feel so alone. So alone. I feel it sometimes, the loneliness eating up my insides, leaving me an empty shell that obediently carries out whatever task given to them, vying for any kind validation from anywhere that matters in the slightest. And that anywhere for me being my father. The same father who used to punish me as a kid for calling him that. 

I'll just leave, she was right, they wer-

A shrill pain invaded my head. Everything started getting hazy. Deja Vu started to hit me up hard. My surroundings started to blur up, the pain making tears well up in my eyes.  _ Not again. Not again. Not Again. _ A subconscious part of my brain seemed to wail, before I completely blacked out.

\---

I woke up, feeling the sunlight on my face.

After getting out of the bed and stretching for a bit, I walked up to the window to observe the surroundings, pretending to just admire the view.

Well...it seems like a good day to start working on the Great General's mission. 

My head hurt like hell, it was almost ringing.

Don't know what happened last night, it all seemed a bit hazy to me, to be honest. But the General  _ had _ told me beforehand that it'd be a side effect. A side effect for preventing my weak mind to be manipulated again.  _ Why was I so weak? So easy to be manipulated by those filthy rats? _

_ I'll make myself strong, I'll have my revenge, and I'll make the General proud _ , I thought, as I clenched my fist on the window sill. 

But I still felt like I was forgetting something important.

What was I thinking about again? 

Nevermind.

Right, fathe- the General's mission.

_ Hail Mogador, I guess _ . I sighed, bandaged my leg after the incision, right next to the first one, marking my second day of mission, and got ready for school

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Leave kudos and/or a comment if you liked it! It seriously helps in the writing process, the reassurance that people are reading and enjoying the writer's work :'D


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